I have moved

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Things just got crazy. Plus I found out my new apartment was ready for me so last week was spent packing etc. Very little cross stitching has been done.

My brother is in the hospital for a week to a month. We left his cat at the apt. thinking that would be best for her but she's not eating! So tomorrow a friend and I are going to take her to her house until my brother gets home. I know it's preferred the cat stay at home, but to get there every day since I don't drive is impossible. I went there Thurs. and another brother went there Friday and Sat. today she'll be left along, but tomorrow morning my friend and I will go get her. She is a very social cat. And since Aug. she was taken to Friends to felines, then my brother adopted her, my mom and nephew lived with my brother, my mom died, my nephew moved out and now my brother isn't there, she needs reassurance that she is okay. I feel it's best for Jody to take her, and hopefully my brother will be home before Jody goes to CA. Another friend will take her then if not. I'm almost thinking it would have been best just to let Marilyn take her now but I had already told Jody she could take her. I hope I'm not making a mistake.

Saturn seems to have adjusted to this move pretty well. He's checking everything out. Fortunately he is a calm cat. I really think I'll like it here once I get settled. But man was I a mess yesterday. And so disorganized. Tomorrow I'll go back and clean up and then be done with the apt. It's just a block away, same complex. Just on main level. Which I needed. I hope to find my stitching and get back to it this week.

Well....until next time Happy Stitching!

Remember this one?

I didn't do a very good job of scanning it. I dug this piece out this morning to get going on it and hopefully finish it up. It's Red Bird. I started it last December and didn't get it finished. The tree is a challenge to do but other then that I like the piece. The red bird will come in hopefully at the end of the week.

I've started packing everything up, I still need to get a date that I can actually move on. I actually started packing last spring or early summer, hoping to move by now. So now I'm getting serious about packing again. My cat isn't sure what to think he keeps meowing at the boxes. Like he doesn't like them. Most cats like to play in boxes, not Saturn. Like him, I'll be glad when it's all done and I'm over to the new apartment. Also my brother needs to move by end of Dec. Hopefully tomorrow he'll hear he got the apartment. His cat has claimed all his boxes for herself, she loves to play in and out of them.

Well, until next time....Happy Stitching!

MMMM Update #5 and last update

Good afternoon! Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving Weekend. I did. We went to my nieces in Rockford for Thanksgiving. I don't think my brother is going to let me ride with him again unless I'm in backseat and stitching! But that UPS or whatever you call those things, had him go on all the back roads, instead of the most direct route. Though 40 miles you only take 3 roads and 39 of the miles are two roads the 3rd road is only about 2 blocks! But no it had us go down this back road, that backroad, drove me nuts, and then took us through Greenville. It was ridiculous the way it had us go. Anyway we made it. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, Addie and Nolan took over the show. My brother and brother in law both had to leave, but my sister and I spent the night at Heather's. Then Friday Heather, Kay, Addie and I went shopping. It really wasn't too bad. We had a lot of fun. Even had a CS place, very small as they sold other crafts too. I wasn't that impressed with the selection but they had their books and leaflets a $1.00 a piece. I found three books to do. A gymnastic piece for Addie, a space ship for Nolan and a religious one to do for a friend

I didn't do too well on the mini month challenge. I only got 2 small pieces done and a 3rd one about 2/3 done which will finish after the first of year, I have started another small one which should be done in a couple of days.

I will be moving in Dec. I found out for sure. I'm transferring from here to an apartment on the ground level. I'm finding the steps are getting harder and harder to manage. And I think my Neurapathy and Arthritis are progressing so I needed to move. Also we are hoping and praying my brother gets his apt by Dec. 31, as he has to be out of the one he's in by then. He had a 3 bedroom apartment he shared with our mom and his son. Well, mom since died, and Andrew moved to Holland so he needs to get a 1 bedroom apartment he can afford.

Well....until next time......Happy Stitching

MMMM challenge Progress Report #4

Good afternoon! This is my update on Magnolia Blossom, it's getting close to the finish line. I hope to finish it Wed. Then I'll do a couple of other small finishes from the same book I'm wishing I would have done this on different color material it would show better.

I just got back from my brothers. We had a turkey dinner. Yesterday after church a lady came up to me and said she had a package for Tim and I. So she delievered it yesterday. It was a turkey dinner with all the trimmings from Bob Evans. They donate a certain amount of dinners to our church and they decide who to give them to, this year Tim and I were among the recipients. I wanted it today while the food was still fresh. Besides Thursday we are going to my niece's house for Thanksgiving unless the weather is too bad.

Well until next time....Happy Thanksgiving.

Another Mini Start for MMMM challenge

Good afternoon! It's a cold, snowy day outside. A good day to just stay inside and stitch. I have Potato-Corn Chowder in the crock pot and later I'll get into some hot chocolate. We bit the bullet yesterday and didn't get hit too bad, but can't say that for today. I still say since winter came so early Spring has to come in Feb and stay until June, then summer. Fall was a short season this year so spring can be a long season. Right?

Anyway I dug out another piece for the MMMM challenge. I'm not sure the pieces I'm picking are pure mini's but as far as I'm concerned they are compared to most pieces I choose to stitch. It's Magnolia Blossom from an old Stoney Creek book a friend gave me. See I'm thinking spring already doing flowers. It seems like it's moving slower then what it actually is. But looking at the fact I've only stitched about 14 hours on it it's moving quicker then I think.

Well until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Mini Finish

Hello again! Three posts in one week is rare for me. There may be a fourth one at the end of the week as I'll show my new start then. (Magnolias by Stoney Creek). I finished Giving Thanks earlier this morning. It took a while as there was about 2 weeks I got very little stitching in. I did enjoy this piece an awful lot of backstitching but back stitching really defines the piece adds a lot of detail.

Well winter is coming. Today we have snow flurries and between tomorrow and Friday we'll get 4 to 9 inches of snow. They say the western portion of the Lakeshore counties will get the most snow. We are on the eastern side of our county.

So with that, I'm already thinking spring and chose my next two mini pieces, but being flowers by Stoney Creek. I have the Magnolia started but want to be further before I show it.

Well.....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Happy Veterans Day and MMMM Challenge

Good Afternoon! And Happy Veterans Day to the Veterans out there. I know our family has several who have served. Thank you to all the Vets who have served to keep us free.

Rather then post tomorrow the MMMM Challenge I thought I would post today since it was a week ago I first posted. It's almost done. Since scanning it this morning I finished the girl pilgrim. So it may be done tomorrow even. Guess I'll have to find another mini design.

I can't decide if it's raining or snowing outside. Snow is in the forecast. The UP really got hit hard. Almost a foot of snow up in Marquette area. That's right on Lake Superior close to Canada. We will get snow but not bad this week. I guess next week we are due to get more. But that's in the 10 day forecast. Never trust the 10 day forecast anything can change. At least I hope it changes.

Well...anyway until tomorrow or Thursday when this piece is finished Happy Stitching!

November Turtle Trot

I didn't get as much done on Turtle Trot as I had hoped to this month. I haven't stitched any more on Count Your Blessings since my last post, so you can see that right below this post. This is progress on Strengthen Me.

I did finish those Bobcat Kittens and that was a big deal.

I have been working on mini pieces this month as I thought it would be a nice break and easier. Only problem is the first mini piece I have chosen is very detailed. I'll show a picture of that later this week.

Yesterday was our annual Harvest Dinner at church. As usual the food was great, and everyone had a nice time. We had Turkey, Ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, squash, and a wide variety of pies to choose from. I actually took Ham over the turkey, but did choose pumpkin pie even though I bought an apple pie for it. I cheated, I bought the pie from the store. There was plenty of food to go around.

Tomorrow night we are going to try to get our Bible Study Group back going after about a month of not meeting. Something always came up. This time we said if only 3 of us can go so be it we'll still have it.

Well, I'm going to finish reading blogs and maybe get a little more stitching in. Until next time Happy Stitching!

YOTA Update (Year of the Acronymn)

It's Nov. 6 and time to post YOTA progress. I will work on it again for Dec. but next year I will choose a different piece, the piece my brother wants me to start working on again (America by Mystic Stitch) I had planned to work on it a little each month this year but that failed.

Well....things are getting back to normal. My sister came to town Tuesday and left a little while ago. We finished things up at our Mom's apartment for now. Our brother will be there until Dec. 31 so we'll do the final things then. Mostly the furniture and things she had on walls etc. My brother had an appointment this afternoon about an apartment so I'll call him a little later to see how it went.

This Sunday we are having our annual Harvest Dinner at church. Those are always so good. Last Sunday was the first Sunday our new Pastor spoke since we voted him in. Catch is he really won't be here permanently until end of Dec. as they want their children to finish off the semester where they are at. So he'll be in and out until then.

Until next time Happy Stitching

MMMM SAL

I decided to join the MMMM (Mega Monthly Many Mini SAL) I just started this piece this morning so there isn't much to show on it. It's Give Thanks a freebie by Jean Parish. When finished there will be two pilgrims and an Indian holding hands.

I did work on a couple of other pieces (Count Your Blessings and Strengthen Me) a little since I last blogged but I really have not stitched much.

I think I last posted on Oct. 25. Little did I realize the chain of events that would happen just 2 hours later and the next few days. I talked to my mom on the phone around 11 am and she sounded pretty good my brother and sister-in-law were there and we thought she'd be going home from the hospital in a day or two at most. We told each other we loved each other and I told her I'd be up that afternoon. I went to volunteer at Faithful2felines at noon and planned to go up to hospital after that. About a half hour after arriving there one of the other volunteers came up to me and said "I'll finish your two rooms your brother is here and said there's an emergency." I knew right away. So we got up to the hospital and were joined by Kevin and Beth and mom was unresponsive. My sister was on her way in from other side of state, and our other brother, Kenn was just waiting for further word as he lives in MO and could only take so much time from work. Sunday it seemed like mom was trying to respond but the Dr. said no it was just part of the dying process. Monday came and we could see she was weakening and we had to decide what to do. We wanted her to go to Harbor Hospice where dad was and a nurse did come to evaluate mom. But the Dr. at Hospice didn't want to risk the ambulance ride. Well long story short we all came to an agreement the mask that was keeping mom alive would be changed over to a canula and if she was with us on Tues. then everyone was willing to risk the ambulance ride and she could go to Harbor Hospice. Also my sister spent Sat., and Sun. nights with her and I was going to spend Monday night with her. About 4:30 Kay and Tim went down to get something to eat and Kevin and I started noticing her breathing becoming more shallow. Kevin was just about to call Kay and Tim up when they walked into the room saying they decided not to stay and felt they should come up. We think that was from God. Anyway they made it up to see mom take her last breaths. She joined dad in heaven Oct. 27 at 5:50 pm. So the next few days were hectic, so much more to do than there was with dad. We had her funeral on Sat. A long time family friend and my niece's husband sang the same songs they sang at dad's funeral. And Pastor Shane drove in and Pastor Al and my brother Kenn all spoke just like at dad's funeral. I really wanted the song I can Only Imagine by Mercy Me played so my brother found the tape and as they played the song my brothers, sister, nieces, nephews and two of our great nieces and I walked in carrying a picture of mom and dad each one of us chose and placed it on the steps then they brought her casket it. It was a nice funeral.
We all miss mom but happy she's in heaven with dad and rejoicing and praising God forever. We will see them again.

Well until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Pulling out some Turtle Trot Pieces Disaster on Bobcat Kittens

Good afternoon! I said in my last post I was going to work on some TT pieces after being obsessed with the Bobcats for 2 months! I am happy with the progress I made the last two days on this piece which is also my YOTA piece. I needed to stitch on it in Oct. since the deal is to stitch a little each month and Oct. is coming to an end. I will start working on Strengthen me when I get off the computer here. ((Count Your Blessings is a piece I can only handle a couple of days at a time then have to do something else. Even though I do like the piece and am happy with the progress I am making.

Disaster hit my Bobcat Kittens. I am so upset. I washed and ironed them fine. Saw some creases from the hoop and decided to rewash them. Fatal mistake! I didn't realize there was spaghetti sauce in the sink and didn't even see it. I always clean the sink out. The next morning I went to retrieve the piece and to my horror there was spaghetti sauce marks all over the piece. So I soaked and soaked, and soaked, and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. Made another big mistake in desperation decided to try to put it in the washing machine! It only faded the marks, but did little else. Not only that it frayed the piece! I may tomorrow retry the stain remover and take a tooth brush after it. I just can't today. I did let the lady at Love Quilts know what happened and if all else fails I'll mail it to her as is and she will see what she can do it. In over 30 years of stitching I never had that happen to me before! Those Bobcats took 2 months and over 120 hours. There is no time for me to redo them or ask anyone else to do it. So if they are not saveable then the quilt will be without them. I'm not a happy camper and have crucified myself mentally over and over again!

Last night my brother called me just before midnight saying the ambulance was taking our mom to the hospital. They thought she had a stroke. He found her slumped over in her chair and unresponsive. She's doing okay today, they are running tests on her to see what happened. She may go home in next day or two.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching! If anyone has an idea how to save those Bobcat Kittens please let me know!

Happy Dance! Bobcats are Finished

Good Afternoon! I am a Happy Camper! These Bobcats are finished! I loved doing them once the heads were done but I was thrilled when the last stitch went in!

Now I am going to catch up a little and do some Turtle Trot pieces for a while. I've neglected them the last couple of months.

Well....until next time.....Happy Stitching!

On the Home Stretch!

Good Morning! Well the end is in site! I have enjoyed this piece but will be very happy to have it done. Sometime next week it will be done.

Today I start my first day volunteering at Faithful2felines. It's only for an hour. It's where my brother got his cat from a couple of weeks ago.

My mom isn't doing all that well....she's so disoriented at times. Last night I spent the night there to give my brother a break and may be back there tonight so I may sleep away this afternoon. I still say she needs to be in a nursing home. Problem is Tim and Andrew need a place to live, I told Tim he better start looking for apartments. At rate he's going he's going to die before mom because he's up all night with her and not getting much sleep.

I have fallen in love with my brother's cat though. She kept curling up on my lap last night and this morning, and giving me little kisses etc. I missed my own cat but she's a sweetheart. Of course when I got home this morning Saturn was all over me, he smelled Snowball on me.

Well....until next time happy stitching!

Update on Bobcat Kittens

Good Morning. I know today is Turtle Trot but as I said last month these kittens were going to be first priority until they are done. I am finally over half done on them and I am really enjoying them now that they are coming to life. I am hoping to be back to Turtle Trot next month. (Better be as these need to be in mail and received by Nov. 15).

There isn't anything going on since my last post (which was just a couple of days ago.) Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments. I love to see where everyone is from and love reading comments. Until next time.....Happy Stitching!

Year of the Acronym (YOTA) update a day late

I stitched a little bit on this piece. (I'm mostly stitching on the Bobcat Kittens). I know I'm a day late but yesterday my computer and scanner would not work together nor would they this morning. I finally asked for help on Facebook and my nephew called me from MO and walked me through it. I'm happy they are working together. I wish I would have written the steps down so I know next time! Oh well....

Friday my brother put his dog down. I told him when he's ready I'd take him to Faithful2cats and get a cat. My mom has wanted a cat for years and dad wouldn't let her, then when he died and Tim moved in they waited because of the dog. They didn't want her upset or jealous. Sat. Tim called and we went and got him an all white short-haired female declawed cat. Her name was Luna but they changed it to Snowball. We like that name much better. She is adjusting very well. Tim says she jumps all over the place. And they all just love her. Even Andrew who did not like the dog at all loves this cat. In fact she slept with him one night. So all is well there. I went to the place yesterday to apply to be a volunteer. I like that place and like the fact they keep the cats until they have a good home. Sat. I have orientation. We'll see.

We still don't know if we have a new pastor but indications are he will come. He just wanted one more week to pray and know for sure. So we sure hope he comes.

It seems like I posted all this before. If I did sorry about the repost. Well....until next time....Happy Stitching.

Update on Bobcats

Good afternoon! Well it's 5 minutes before noon so I can call it noon after all. I made quite a bit of progress on the Bobcat Kittens this week. The last 2 or 3 days I've been spending more time on them. (Probably more than I should be). Now the heads are in it's coming along much better and I'm enjoying them more. I'm not quite half done with them but they'll come faster now I think.

Yesterday when I got done working in the food pantry my brother came and picked me up and he had his sweet dog Autumn with him. I was all excited as I just love her. Outside of my parents and Tim I was her favorite person and she got overly excited every time she saw me. But she was having health problems and is at least 10 going on 11. Because of the problems my brother made the tough decision of putting her down before she suffers much. So in about a half hour from now she will be put down. I cried all the way home yet petted her loved her, let her kissed me. She will be missed my my mom and Tim. So I'm feeling sad and heavy hearted but know it's the best for her. Needless to say she's been spoiled all through her life but especially the last couple of days. I got home and my sweet Saturn greeted me at the door and was all over me. He is such a sweet cat.

Tim wants to get a cat so tomorrow him and I are going to a Feline Rescue place I had never heard of until last week when I rode by it and I thought I have to tell Tim about this for when he puts Autumn down. Tim already knew about it and was planning to go there tomorrow.

Rather or not we have a Pastor at our church I don't know. We did vote for him and it was a 100 percent yes. So he's thinking and praying about it. Problem is he does have 4 children and 2 of them the 14 year old and 6 year old don't want to leave their friends and his wife has concerns but she is a mother. Yet other people she gave them the idea she wanted to come. So we'll see.

Well....until next time....Happy Stitching!

Second Bobcat showing up

Hello! I've stitched quite a bit on this piece, The second bobcat is showing up. Now that I have made progress it's going easier but I will still be glad to have this finished but I'm a long ways from it.

Last weekend was fun. We really like this Pastoral candidate and his family, we'll vote this Sunday on him. I really think it will happen. He seems to be a good fit. If it doesn't happen I think Jonathan and the rest of the search committee will cry.

Boy the flu really seems to be going around here. I know of at least 4 people from our church that have been struck by it and it doesn't leave too quickly either.

Tomorrow after working in the food pantry my sister in law and I are going out for lunch. I ordered from Feeding America this past week so that food is coming in tomorrow. I just hope it comes in earlier than they did last time I ordered.

Well until next time Happy Stitching.

Bobcats Start

Good Afternoon!
It's been a cool week around here. My electric bill will like that since I turned off the air conditioner.

I started Bobcats for Love Quilts a little over a week ago. It really was not an easy piece to really get into. It's funny because I have done 3 other pieces from this book (Endangered Young'uns by Ruth Morehead put out by Gloria and Pat), and they went pretty good. Oh by the time they were finished I was ready to start a new piece. But this piece at first didn't click and I really doubted it would be done by Nov. 15. It's going better now, but still slow going. Still wondering if they'll be done by Nov. 15 even though it's almost 2 months away.

This weekend will be a busy weekend. We have a possible Pastoral candidate coming in this weekend. (I say possible as this weekend he's just checking it out and we're checking him out to see if it's a good match. Which so far seems to be). Anyway Sat. morning the women are having breakfast with his wife at Russ's on south side of town and men are having breakfast with him at Russ's on north side of town. I'm sure the children will be there to. Then at noon we are having a picnic with the whole family on the church grounds. Sunday is Back to Church Sunday and he'll be preaching then we'll have a dinner after church with the whole family. My only concern is we have very few teens and children at church anymore, so I'm a little concerned about the children adjusting. We do have about 3 boys that are teenagers around his son's age, but I really don't know of any children the ages of the other 3 children. Maybe 1 or 2 but that's it. Our church has dropped so bad....sad, when the pastor leaves the church drops so much. Then the 28th if things go well this weekend he will candidate and we will vote on him after the service. Everyone has their hopes up high. So we are praying things work out, don't know how much longer our church will last otherwise. Those that could have carried our church through these days left. So there are only about 2 or 3 men picking up the slack. The other men are getting up in age and served their time.

Monday the 22nd it will be a year ago that my dad died. His first anniversary in heaven. But we really miss him here. We are having flowers sent in memory of my dad to the church then we'll plant them at my dad's grave. They'll be mums I think and will come up every year. We finally got the gravestone. It took forever it seemed for everything to be done and for them to finally do it. When my brother said it had to be done by the 22nd things got moving.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching.

Year of the Acronym (YOTA)

I just saw on someones blog about YOTA and I thought it sounded like fun so have decided to join. It's where you pick out an UFO and stitch on it some each month until it is finished. You post the start which I am here, then each month post the progress you made on it. This also is one of my Turtle Trot pieces so it may get done. This piece is called Count Your Many Blessings by Leisure Arts.

Well...until next time Happy Stitching!

Turtle is Finished!

Good morning!I finished this piece earlier today. It was a cute, fun stitch but I was happy to get it finished. So much green in it.

Now I've started Bobcat Kittens from Ruth Morehead's Endangered Young'uns, published by Gloria and Pat. I've done several from this book and these animals are so cute. A lot of work as they are not easy but worth it in the end. It's going to a quilt project we are doing at Cross Stitch Addicts featuring these animals. The quilt will go to a child at Love Quilts.

Well....we finally have a potential Pastor at our church after 15 months without one. He will be coming 2 weekends the end of Sept. Then we'll vote on him. We are so happy as we need a Pastor bad. We've had so many people leave our church during these months and plus some active long time members died. We are afraid we may not have a church much longer the way we were going. But we are confidant God will turn things around once we get a new Pastor. Problem is we are an inner city church and sometimes they don't grow quite as fast as other churches.

Our mom is really enjoying Life Circles. At first she was leary as she had to change Dr.'s and everything, but she's starting to like it now. She goes 2 days a week. They pick her up about 9 am and bring her back around 4:30 pm. She says sometimes the afternoons are boring but like Wed. afternoon they took the people on a Patoon Boat Ride out to Blue Lake and she loved that.

I was having pain in my jaw (only other side then the jaw that has created problems) so went to Dentist. Can you believe I'm teething! I have a wisdom tooth that never really popped through and now it's starting to. He said that happens once in a while, but not too often.

Well.....not much is happening so until next time....Happy Stitching!